Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys senior defensive lineman Roland Dampeer gathered his second preseason all-America honor on Wednesday, as the Mendenhall, Miss., native was picked to the USA Football News preseason all-America second team.

Dampeer was previously selected to the Beyond Sports College Network (BSN) all-America preseason third team.

The senior earned first-team all-Great American Conference honors last season after leading the Wonder Boys in tackles for loss and quarterback sacks. He played in all 10 games, started six, recorded 23 total tackles, 12 solo stops and 9.5 tackles for a loss of 37 yards and had six sacks for a loss of 31 yards. Additionally, he had a team-best five quarterback hurries and blocked a kick.

Final preseason scrimmage

Senior quarterback Tanner Marsh was 8-for-11 with a touchdown and 91 yards passing, junior Casey Henderson had seven rushes for 37 yards and a touchdown, and Cassius Washington had four catches for 56 yards as the Green picked up a 17-7 win over the Gold in the Wonder Boys’ final preseason scrimmage Tuesday night at Thone Stadium at Buerkle Field.

“I think we made progress,” head coach Steve Mullins said. “Coming off a two-a-day practice into a major scrimmage is not necessarily what you want to do, but that’s what we did. The intensity was not quite what we wanted. That would be the negative. On the positive side, we came out injury-free for the most part. The number of mental mistakes over the last three days went down quite a bit. That was very pleasing.”

Henderson put the Green squad on the board first at the 3:44 mark of the first half with a 4-yard touchdown run. Trevor Pinkston kicked the extra point to give the Green a 7-0 lead. With under a minute to play in the half, Marsh connected with senior Darrell Freeman on a 33-yard touchdown strike. Randy Velazquez of Dardanelle converted the extra point to push the Green lead to 14-0 going into the second half.

Pinkston connected on a 30-yard field goal to give the Green a 17-0 lead with 6:48 remaining, but the Gold got on the board with 3:49 remaining as sophomore Carlos Ibarra connected with Christopher Gonzalez on a 17-yard touchdown pass.

Overall, Mullins was pleased with the team’s effort in the 58-play scrimmage.

“I think the intensity and effort will come back as we start back and get into more of a routine,” Mullins said. “Any coach will tell you that as you get to the end of camp, there will be drudgery. I thought there were a lot of positive things to build on. We were able to work on almost every live kicking situation tonight, and this was our first live work on kickoff coverage and return. I am anxious to see on video the areas we can improve.”

Arkansas Tech will begin its 2012 campaign by hosting Bacone College (Okla.) for a 6 p.m. non-conference contest at Thone Stadium at Buerkle Field on Sept. 1. It will mark the first game on the new synthetic turf.

Cross country open tryout

Arkansas Tech Golden Suns cross country Coach Tom Aspel announced he will conduct an open tryout for any current students interested in running for the Golden Suns this season at 4 p.m. Tuesday and 2 p.m. Aug. 31.

The tryout is open to anyone who is a current Arkansas Tech student. Participants will need to meet at the North side of Tucker Coliseum in the grass (cross country course).

The Golden Suns will open the cross country season Sept. 1 at the 5-kilometer Brooks Memphis Twilight in Memphis, Tenn. Arkansas Tech is picked to finish third in the women’s cross country GAC preseason polls.

Anyone who attends the open tryout must bring a copy of their physical. Scholarships are available to runners who qualify. Contact Aspel at 857-4527 for additional information.